The 2nd Asian Business Schools Desert Challenge was held in Tengger Desert, Alashan, Inner Mongolia. A total of 30 Asian business schools with over 400 students joined the challenge. The SAIF MBA team, Boat of Desert, composed of 16 students from 2011 and 2012 classes won the first among participating Shanghai schools and 4th among all Asian schools, and was awarded Best Communication Team.

It was the first time for Boat of Desert to join the challenge, and the detailed strategies were deployed. For example, students were placed into different teams based on varied physical conditions, each team with different tasks, in order to achieve the best result in the competition.

The three-day competition had witness enormous difficulties and challenges throughout the entire odyssey. Walking with a heavy load, sandstorms, physical trauma including blisters on the feet, arduous conditions, immense fatigue…all these only toughened and united the team members even more. SAIF ranked 6th as a school the first day, and soon caught up and won 4th place in the end. Especially the last day, Vincent Kott, the Canadian MBA student of SAIF, clinched gold on that day among men players, followed by Xiao Li ranking 4th and Wang Zonghu 8th. On the other hand, Lise Birikundavyi, ranked 8th among women players on the last day, followed by Chen Chen ranking 9th.

Experience and lessons were shared and learnt among players after the competition, which, the players hope, can also be spread to junior SAIFers for even better performance in the future. Apart from scores, friendship and a valuable network is definitely a huge bonus from the competition. Such a challenge in the desert is believed to be an extraordinary experience for both Boat of Desert and SAIF.